Determining the Extents, Geometries, and Kinematics of Narrow-Line Region Outflows in Nearby Seyfert Galaxies

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Autori principali: Polack, Garrett E., Revalski, Mitchell, Crenshaw, D. Michael, Fischer, Travis C., Schmitt, Henrique R., Kraemer, Steven B., Meena, Beena, Rafelski, Marc
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2024
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author Polack, Garrett E.
Revalski, Mitchell
Crenshaw, D. Michael
Fischer, Travis C.
Schmitt, Henrique R.
Kraemer, Steven B.
Meena, Beena
Rafelski, Marc
author_facet Polack, Garrett E.
Revalski, Mitchell
Crenshaw, D. Michael
Fischer, Travis C.
Schmitt, Henrique R.
Kraemer, Steven B.
Meena, Beena
Rafelski, Marc
contents Outflowing gas from supermassive black holes in the centers of active galaxies has been postulated as a major contributor to galactic evolution. To explore the interaction between narrow-line region (NLR) outflows and their host galaxies, we use Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) spectra and Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) images of 15 nearby (z < 0.02) active galactic nuclei (AGN) to determine the extents and geometries of their NLRs. We combine new HST WFC3 continuum and [O III] $λ$5007A images of 11 AGN with 4 archival AGN to match existing spectra from HST STIS. For the 6 AGN with suitable long-slit coverage of their NLRs, we use isophotal fitting of ground-based images, continuum-subtracted [O III] images, and the STIS spectra, to resolve, measure, and de-project the gas kinematics to the plane of the host galaxy disk and distinguish NLR outflows from galaxy rotation and/or kinematically disturbed gas. We find an average [O III] extent of $\sim$680pc with a correlation between gas extent and [O III] luminosity of R$_\mathrm{[O III]}$ $\propto$ L$_{\text{[O III]}}^{0.39}$. The measured extents depend strongly on the depth of the [O III] images, highlighting the importance of adopting uniform thresholds when analyzing scaling relationships. The outflows reach from 39-88% of the full NLR extents, and we find that all 6 of the AGN with STIS coverage of their entire NLRs show strong kinematic evidence for outflows, despite previous uncertainty for these AGN. This suggests that NLR outflows are ubiquitous in moderate luminosity AGN and that standard criteria for kinematic modeling are essential for identifying outflows.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2407_17550
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Determining the Extents, Geometries, and Kinematics of Narrow-Line Region Outflows in Nearby Seyfert Galaxies
Polack, Garrett E.
Revalski, Mitchell
Crenshaw, D. Michael
Fischer, Travis C.
Schmitt, Henrique R.
Kraemer, Steven B.
Meena, Beena
Rafelski, Marc
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Outflowing gas from supermassive black holes in the centers of active galaxies has been postulated as a major contributor to galactic evolution. To explore the interaction between narrow-line region (NLR) outflows and their host galaxies, we use Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) spectra and Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) images of 15 nearby (z < 0.02) active galactic nuclei (AGN) to determine the extents and geometries of their NLRs. We combine new HST WFC3 continuum and [O III] $λ$5007A images of 11 AGN with 4 archival AGN to match existing spectra from HST STIS. For the 6 AGN with suitable long-slit coverage of their NLRs, we use isophotal fitting of ground-based images, continuum-subtracted [O III] images, and the STIS spectra, to resolve, measure, and de-project the gas kinematics to the plane of the host galaxy disk and distinguish NLR outflows from galaxy rotation and/or kinematically disturbed gas. We find an average [O III] extent of $\sim$680pc with a correlation between gas extent and [O III] luminosity of R$_\mathrm{[O III]}$ $\propto$ L$_{\text{[O III]}}^{0.39}$. The measured extents depend strongly on the depth of the [O III] images, highlighting the importance of adopting uniform thresholds when analyzing scaling relationships. The outflows reach from 39-88% of the full NLR extents, and we find that all 6 of the AGN with STIS coverage of their entire NLRs show strong kinematic evidence for outflows, despite previous uncertainty for these AGN. This suggests that NLR outflows are ubiquitous in moderate luminosity AGN and that standard criteria for kinematic modeling are essential for identifying outflows.
title Determining the Extents, Geometries, and Kinematics of Narrow-Line Region Outflows in Nearby Seyfert Galaxies
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.17550